Superstar: Cher’s “3614 Jackson Highway” Expanded For Vinyl Premiere From Run Out Groove

2018 was a great year for Cher, with a starring role in the blockbuster Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, the release of her hit album Dancing Queen, the opening of Broadway bio-musical The Cher Show, the reissue on vinyl of the smash Believe album, and a prestigious Kennedy Center Honor. 2019 looks to be shaping up as another banner year for the consummate entertainer. Run Out Groove has just announced that the expanded edition of Cher’s 3614 Jackson Highway, first issued on a Rhino Handmade CD in 2001, will be the label’s next deluxe vinyl reissue.

Cher’s sixth album, the 1969 LP took her out of the environs of Hollywood and into Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Supported by the great musicians there including Eddie Hinton, David Hood, Roger Hawkins, Jimmy Johnson, and Barry Beckett, as well as producers Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin, and Tom Dowd, it was intended to showcase a side of Cher previously unknown. (The title refers to the address of the Muscle Shoals studio.) It featured songs by Bob Dylan (“Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You,” “I Threw It All Away,” and “Lay Baby Lay”) as well as Stephen Stills’ “For What It’s Worth,” Otis Redding and Steve Cropper’s “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay,” and Dr. John’s “I Walk on Guilded Splinters.” Southern soul staples from Dan Penn and Chips Moman (“Do Right Woman, Do Right Man”) and Penn and Spooner Oldham (“Cry Like a Baby”) were also featured.

But despite her most soul-infused singing, top-drawer arrangements, and tight band performances, the album failed to restore her commercial fortunes. That, of course, would come later. But in the years to come, 3614 Jackson Highway was re-evaluated as a high watermark in Cher’s artistry as an interpretive singer. In 2001, Rhino Handmade reissued it on CD with twelve bonus tracks primarily produced by Sonny Bono, including Cher’s renditions of “Easy to Be Hard,” “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” “Superstar,” Goffin and King’s “Yours Until Tomorrow,” and even the dramatic “Momma Look Sharp” from 1776 but equally relevant to the Vietnam era. Most of these bonuses were drawn from a planned but never released album scheduled to arrive in 1970; five of its ten tracks were issued as singles, but the rest went initially unreleased. (“Superstar,” produced by Stan Vincent, was not intended for the 1970 LP, which is presented in mono.) This vinyl premiere from Run Out Groove features all of the Rhino Handmade bonus tracks except for the alternate stereo version from the Chastity soundtrack of “Chastity’s Song,” making for a near-complete account of Cher’s solo Atco recordings.

3614 Jackson Highway: Expanded Edition will be pressed on 180-gram clear and purple mixed vinyl at Record Industry, and will be housed in a gatefold tip-on jacket. It’s available to pre-order now at Run Out Groove through February 7 only. It will then be pressed and numbered to a limited quantity based on the pre-orders. Don’t miss out on this slice of musical history from the inimitable Cher; you’ll find the pre-order link just below!

Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. He has contributed liner notes to reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Peggy Lipton, Doris Day, and Andy Williams, and has compiled releases for talents including Robert Goulet and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and the Raiders.
In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and his work still appears with frequency in the magazine. In 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray.
Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green.
In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with Real Gone Music, has released newly-curated collections produced by Joe from iconic artists such as The Supremes, Melissa Manchester, Laura Nyro, Bobby Darin and Johnny Mathis, legendary producer Bob Crewe, soul legend Wilson Pickett, and many others.
Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

Comments

Joe! You neglected to mention Cher’s top 3 LP of ABBA covers, DANCING QUEEN! It has been a great year for Cher and this is just wonderful news. 3614 really is one of her most beautiful albums and those unreleased tracks are gems. AND ON 180 GRAM VINYL NO LESS! YEAH! Now let’s get all her solo albums – ALL OF them remastered and released with original artwork, mono singles etc etc!! THANKS!

The WB releases Stars through Cherished have all recently been issued “remastered” (some sound it – amazing) in South America (I think) – you can still find on Amazon – but they have gotten expensive again…. however these need to be eigther in a massive box set KAPP/MCA and then WB and CASABLANCA. TOTALLY REMASTERED – the only good MCA release is Dark Lady actually – the rest of the digital transfers are flat. There are not many outtakes from over those years but every single was released in Mono – through War Paint & Soft Feathers!) and wouldn’t it bne amazing if they could get the rights for some of her solos on the TV shows of the corresponding years? Good in depth book etc etc. I hate how Bittersweet White Light it repackaged – especially when the original sleeve was so beautiful! Same with Foxy Lady and Hlaf Breed. TAKE ME HOME – a gold album – has been reissued in MEXICO! supposedly remastered – it does sound good…but the only one available here is that crappy repackage with “You Better Sit Down Kids”! Who the hell makes these decisions? Remaster that and add the 6 12″ remixes along with @ 6 Ron Dante outtakes…and PRISONER – please remaster – add the 2 remixes – and there are about 6 outtakes there also! Get it together people! Cher is where it’s at! Time to celebrate her amazing output!!

I figured they were but if they are bootlegs how did they get masters to transfer them? CHERISHED sounds stellar – never sounded that good on vinyl. WHy should they be avoided? If Cher for some insane reason does not want them released officially this is the channel fans will take. Even as cheesy as CHERISHED is – all three of those solos + ALLMAN AND WOMAN are brilliant!

Yes I completely agree with you \, why avoid them?!! the packaging is beautiful, etc…we may have to wait for another type of official release, but in the meantime these are wonderful!!! withe way US labels are these days, the only way we get really great older titles is on import anyway, so I am more than willing to collect as many versions as possible of certain artists!!

Well I should say avoid them if you are thinking they are official releases as they are definitely not. Anyone is free to buy them if they wish, but I personally choose not to spend that kind of money on bootlegs.

There is a guy on the Cher message boards who currently has stellar, and I do mean stellar, rips of all the WB albums available at no cost. They sound amazing. The best I have ever heard and he is still tweaking them even more.

I ordered one from Amazon and one from Run Out Groove – just to be sure! I have a mint DJ pressing of the original so I am looking forward to the comparison. All in all, ATCO usually pressed vinyl high quality, so we shall see!

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